Is Smithfield Twp. hiring?

Friday

Feb 8, 2019 at 8:00 AM

Bill Cameron

MARSHALLS CREEK — Smithfield Township is considering a new addition to its municipal management structure. Township supervisors approved the 2019 township budget with an unusual line item included: $100,000 for a new township manager position.

“We are part-time supervisors,” said Brian Barrett, chairman of the township Board of Supervisors. “In this day in age, this is a full-time, 24/7 job — there’s no doubt about it. We’re looking to get the right person, a person who is familiar with planning codes and the operation of a municipality, especially a second-class township.”

Pennsylvania categorized Smithfield as a township of the second class, which, as defined by state law, shall be governed by a board of three to five supervisors chosen by township voters. Those supervisors may at any time, by a majority vote, enact an ordinance creating the position of township manager. The occupant of that position shall be chosen by and report to the Board of Supervisors, fulfilling the duties established by the ordinance.

So far, Smithfield Township supervisors have enacted no such ordinance for the new position. Supervisors tried previously, in 2014, to solicit interest in a similar position but were unsuccessful in landing an agreeable candidate.

“The result was that we had one person out of 14 who we felt was worthwhile,” Barrett said. “They said no, we don’t pay enough. So, we never went further with it.”

Supervisors budgeted $100,000 total this year for the full-time position, which would include about $26,000 in benefits. The salary would be negotiable up to the remaining amount.

Another option

Although the township manager line item appears in the 2019 budget, the new position isn’t set in stone yet. Supervisors since 2017 have been trying to negotiate an alternative arrangement with the township’s elected auditors that would allow Barrett to assume some of the same duties for additional pay, either in his current paid position or in another role.

Barrett wrote in a July 28, 2017 email to township auditors that he was requesting a new salary of $45,000 per year for full time work. Although that arrangement would increase the costs associated with Barrett’s employment, it would still cost the township less than the addition of a new, full-time manager position. He requested only a wage increase, without benefits, in exchange for the additional duties.

Wages and salary caps for second-class township supervisors are set by a board of three publicly elected auditors. Chairwoman Judy Moeller of the township Board of Auditors said the board would not raise Barrett’s salary to the requested level out of concern for how taxpayers might perceive the auditors’ decision to permit such an increase, according to minutes from a Feb. 26, 2018 meeting.

“Mrs. Moeller states that she does not know how to tell the residents that the auditors are changing supervisors’ salary with such a drastic jump as Mr. Barrett wants it to be,” it says in the minutes, which were recorded by Moeller. “The problem is not what we think the supervisors are worth. The issue is the budget states $35,000 and even if we think you are worth double that amount, the auditors should not be the ones to explain the increase to the taxpayers.”

The auditors declined to raise Barrett’s salary cap to fund full-time work in 2018, with Moeller citing the previously approved $35,000 limit in that year’s budget for supervisors’ salaries. Auditor Kathleen White, during an earlier meeting in November 2017, stated that the Board of Auditors had no way of measuring Barrett’s workload beyond what he reported on his timesheets.

“Ms. White made the point that there is no way, from the auditor’s position, to understand the basis for Mr. Barrett’s hourly wage request,” it says in the minutes from that meeting. “It was further stated that Mr. Barrett does not reflect all of the time spent on township matters on his timesheet and that in fact, the hours submitted are less than the actual time worked.”

Current earnings

Smithfield Township’s 2019 budget includes a $43,000 line item for supervisors’ salaries, which represents the maximum amount, combined, that supervisors can earn. Those wages are paid only if supervisors choose to accept additional administrative duties beyond their legislative roles within the township.

All of Smithfield’s township supervisors, regardless of whether they elect to accept extra work, receive a stipend for board meetings and work sessions. That compensation is paid out of a separate, $7,500 line item. All three supervisors earn a $100 stipend even if a meeting is cancelled or they choose not to attend.

Although creating the additional $100,000 position of manager will cost more than increasing supervisors’ pay, Moeller agreed that the decision may be in the municipality’s best interest.

“In a lot of ways, it would be a good thing for the township,” she said. “I think we need something because what we have now isn’t working.”

Previously, the Board of Supervisors discussed the possibility of hiring Barrett as township manager, which would require him to resign from his current elected office; however, on Jan. 7, Barrett said he did not intend to apply for the new position if it is created.

Elsewhere in Monroe County

Only three Monroe County townships — Chestnuthill, Tobyhanna and Pocono, which is a first-class township — currently employ a township manager. Chestnuthill budgeted $90,200 for its manager’s 2019 salary, while Tobyhanna allocated $103,000 for its manager. Both townships earmarked significantly less for supervisors’ salaries — $12,375 and $7,500, respectively — than Smithfield’s $43,000 combined salary limit. Pocono budgeted $89,250 for its manager in 2019 and a total $16,250 in salary for its five township commissioners.

From township to township, even ones of the same class within the same county, supervisors’ compensation varies widely. Some township supervisors in Monroe County earn an average of less than $2,000 each per year, while others can earn more than $4,000 annually from meeting stipends alone.

Pennsylvania’s municipal code is unusual relative to most states’ laws in that township supervisors may also hold other paid positions within the same municipality. A few supervisors in some of Monroe County’s more populated second-class townships are also employed full time by their township, earning as much as $95,000 per year plus benefits in addition to meeting stipends.

Smithfield ranks as the fourth-most densely populated township in Monroe County, trumped only by Pocono, Stroud and Chestnuthill townships, per the information published online by the state Department of Community and Economic Development. Its population of 7,357 is spread over 23.5 square miles of land intersected by Route 209 and Interstate 80 along the Pennsylvania-New Jersey border.

In terms of physical size, Smithfield is Monroe County’s third-smallest township. It is dwarfed only by Ross and Paradise townships, at less than 23 square miles each.

Overall, Smithfield Township is in better financial health than it’s ever been, said Barrett. The township’s 2019 budget includes no increase in property tax rates, following a trend of holding millage flat for at least the last 13 years.

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